Cobb & Co Festival Returns to the Maranoa in August 2024

This August, the Cobb & Co Festival returns to the Maranoa, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the last horse-drawn mail coach service in Australia.

The event, which will be held Friday 16 August to Sunday 25 August, follows the journey of the historic Australian mail coach from Surat to Yuleba, with approximately 400 participants expected to traverse the 76 kilometre dusty track between the two towns.

Over a thousand spectators are also expected to attend the event, which is held every five years.

The Cobb & Co Festival offers an opportunity for locals and visitors to travel in a horse drawn carriage, see a bullock wagon in action and celebrate an important piece of Australia’s outback history.

To celebrate the centenary, this year, the festival will commence Friday 16 August with the Cobb & Co Long Table Dinner, and then roll on with Festival events including bullock wagons, a horse art exhibition, markets, coach rides, and an open-air concert – maybe even bushrangers!

On Saturday 24 August, the Festival’s signature event begins by collecting the mail from the Surat Post Office, before participants hit the dusty track on horseback, in buggies, carriages and wagons.

The event will conclude midday Sunday 25 August when the coach arrives at the Yuleba Post Office, complete with a celebration in the main street.

Cobb & Co Festival organiser Paul Masson expresses why the centenary program should not be missed.

“Watching and hearing a horse-drawn coach rattle past, and experiencing the pace of the bullock wagons in real life are rare opportunities – don’t miss this one. We invite everyone to come along to relive a unique piece of bush history and retrace the final journey of the Cobb & Co Coach in Australia,” says Paul Masson.

Throughout the Festival enjoy a variety of activities as the mail is taken from Surat to Yuleba, including wagon rides, a theatre production, the Cobb & Co Festival Ball, tours, bowls days, period dress clay target shoot, art exhibits, markets, historical presentations and plenty of live entertainment.

For the full program and more information, head to: www.cobbandcofestival.com.au